Stop Calls from Phone Solicitors

What can I do about people calling my home phone and trying to get me to donate money to their organization? I tell them no all of the time which makes me feel bad but the money we have we need for ourselves. I have our phone number on the do not call lists and they have been there for a year now, so I don't know how I can get them to stop. We receive calls at many hours of the day and they don't leave messages, they just call. We don't pick up unlisted numbers now so they just keep calling. I have asked them to stop calling and to take me off there list. Any suggestions?

Here's what our neighbor does. They have a chihuahua who hates the phone. When they get one of those calls he politely says, "I'd better let you talk to Miguel, he's in charge of that". Then he puts the receiver on the floor and Miguel growls and snarls with all his might into the phone until the offender hangs up. Too bad we all can't do that. It is hilarious.

If you don't answer the calls, they will call every day until someone does. Just answer it and say you are not interested and to take you off their list. Also tell if they call back you will report them. If they call back do what imaqt1962 says. Report them.

The calls for donations are not subject to the "Do Not Call" list - - only the ones that are trying to sell something. I always ask that the ones wanting a donation to sent me a copy of their last year's financial statement so that I can know the percentage that is used correctly. That usually stops the conversation and I have yet to receive any statements

Charities are exempt from the Do Not Call List, so are political organizations (conveniently the same guys that wrote the law!).

If a charity calls me, I tell them that I NEVER donate to charities that make phone solicitations because I despise being disturbed at home and to please remove my phone number from their call list. Once you've asked to be removed, by law they must remove your number from their call list. Usually, that's all that's needed.

We have an unlisted number, and this does not help. I have found out that these people go down a list of numbers in numerical order till they get someone, ie 555-1111, 555-1112, etc. Have not found a way to stop the calls, we just let them know we will not donate and/or hang up on them. I guess we could try telling them they have the wrong number, just an idea

we have Caller ID on our phone and several added features as well. One of them is Privacy Director and Call Block.Privacy Director 'screens' calls made from numbers that can't be called back and I love this feature.Of course you know how Caller ID works. Call Block works pretty well but won't block out of state numbers. That's where the Caller ID comes in and if all else fails, use the Jerry Sienfeld bit:Jerry gets a call from a teller marketer. At first, Jerry is pleasant and says to the caller, "Hey, you know, I would love to talk to you about this but I'm really busy right now. Can I get your home number and call you back? "Ohhhh....(Jerry says), ...you don't want to be bothered at home? Then he gets loud and says, " NOW YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL!!!"

A funny thing my mom did. When I was visiting her one day the phone rang. She answered and listened to them a short time. Then said, "I'd love to hear more but, can you hang on a second?" She put the phone down then proceeded to carry on the conversation we were having. I asked her what she was doing? She replied, talking to you, oh, don't worry about them they'll get tired of waiting and hang up. Sure enough they did. Another time she asked them for their home number so she can call them back when she had time. They hung up. She deals with these callers by having fun with it. She doesn't let it ruin her day and she has funny stories to tell her friends. Although most of them thinks she's nuts, in a loving way, of course.

It's true that the donation people are not subject to the Do Not Call list. Get caller ID if you don't already have it. Never answer a call from a number you don't recognize. If it is a legitimate call, they'll leave a message & you can call them back right away. If you do happen to answer a pesky donation call, use my method. I just very quietly hang up without uttering a word. End of problem.

Make something up. OMG, my baby just took off her diaper and is doing her business on the floor. or the sob story I stayed up all night with a teething baby, we just got to sleep and YOU called. Pretend to lose it. Ask is this the Pizza delivery boy asking for directions. Pretend that your connection is faulty and tell them your life story (make it up a la soap opera) Tell them you are having a psychotic episode and you are on the other line with your shrink so you can stop hearing voices. Ask them if THEY are one of your voices. If you act just plain nuts, most will make notations and not call. Whistles work too. I used to be a telemarketer and so I can relate some stories from the funny to the weird to the scary. I also have been the one at home. The funniest one I ever told a solicitor was I was in premature labour and was waiting for a call from my doctor. Then I screamed like I was being split in two. I was partially telling the truth. I was two weeks overdue and was ready to have my baby, but it wasn't at that time. They hung up very quickly.

As much as I hate to advocate this, do NOT give one red cent to ANY telephone cold-call charity. These "charities" raise funds by SELLING the phone numbers of contributors to other "charities", and you end up getting bombarded with requests for donations. Also, notice that all of the calls start off with, "Hello. I'm calling ON BEHALF OF (charity's name)...." There are COMPANIES out there working on a FOR-PROFIT basis that are basically charity call centers.

This is a CLEAR abuse of the government's DO NOT CALL provisions. Simply hanging up on them or not answering won't do any good - your phone number will remain in their computer's system, and it's the computer that's dialing out. US consumers need Congress to ACT to close the provision in the DO NOT CALL legislation that allows this. Charities should have to make their OWN calls, and all calls should have to be manually dialed, and the charities must be LEGALLY compelled to remove a number from their call list at the owner's request, and charities should be BARRED from sharing or selling their lists of numbers of persons who made donations.

I hate being so cold to charities, but I give through payroll deduction at work to the United Way and the Combined Federal Campaign. QUIT BUGGING ME AT HOME!

I'm getting calls from a "credit card services company regarding my credit card interest rates" about every week now...sometimes 3-4 times a week. I always ask for a supervisor or to be removed from the list, where I am hung up on...every single time. I think I'm going to ask for a way to contact them or the name of the company next time so that I can report them. I'll try to be sneaky about it next time.

I get callers speaking Chinese. Since I only speak English and Polish they hang up on me. One of them even called me three times in a 10 min. period to find someone he could talk to. I could not trace the number displayed. How do I get rid of them?

Editor's Note: In this case I think it is probably someone with the wrong number trying to reach someone.

Re the Chinese phone calls. When my husband answers they ask him if he would like to save money on long distance. The phone displays a 1-866 number or a 1-00001 number. The caller takes a while to answer and at times gets rude if I don't answer in the "correct" language. I have already call Our old phone company to stop calling and the manager's response was "Yes I speak English but what is your problem? You work for us?"

888 887 5430 i posted the above but had the number incorrect.These people are calling everyday sometimes twice a day. I finally answered the phone and they were rude, tried to get personal information verification. When I refused to give them information they said I was breaking up and they could not hear me- which was false- The man "Mr. Searl" as he identified himself then raised his voice said if I did not give him information he could not tell me why he was calling- the then hung up.

Is there any way to push for some kind of law that prevents solicitation of any kind? Including: sales, charities, research of any kind including political? I don't pay for my phone just to have someone else use it for their business! I have an unlisted #, caller id, privacy director and I'm listed on the DNC registry. I continue to get calls even on Sundays and the evenings. Now it's some research company saying they're from a bank.

We use a 'phone zapper' which apparently sends a signal to the computer auto dialter used by the 'offender'that suggests the number they have dialed is out of service. The number dialed is then supposedly removed from the directory. This works for both answered and messaged calls. I noticed a bit of a decrease after initially using this about 4 years ago but lately more calls are getting through.

We own a condo on Maui. We have it in a rental pool so must have a land line. We get solicitation call constantly. When I ask them to remove the number from their list, they hang up before I can finish the sentence. How do I get to someone who can stop this madness. The company that is the most frequent caller is something called Card Services. Toni R.

I keep getting soliciting calls on my cell phone from phone number 847-211-3451. It is an automated machine and when I call back it says phone number is not recognized, try again and so on. This is ridiculous and I really hope it stops.